What does ‘Undetectable’ mean? [video]

San Francisco AIDS Foundation provides services for people living with HIV in the Bay Area. If you need help learning about HIV, getting social support and information, linking to HIV care, figuring out how to pay for HIV medications, a housing referral, and/or adherence counseling and support, please call 415-602-9676 or email Assist4HIV@sfaf.org or pforce@sfaf.org.

Video transcript:

Hi, my name is Jimmy Gale, and I’m the manager of HIV positive services at San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

I tell everyone I meet about HIV treatment and prevention and that undetectable equals untransmittable.

Undetectable means that a person living with HIV can have such low amounts of HIV in their body that it can’t be measured.

You get to undetectable by starting, and staying, on your HIV medications.

People who are undetectable do not transmit HIV to their partners.

And that’s what undetectable equals untransmittable means.

It’s an exciting message, but just the start for people living with HIV.

Undetectable is so much more than untransmittable. It is freedom. It is peace of mind. And it is so much better for your health.

Getting to undetectable helps make sure that you don’t develop AIDS-related conditions or other serious health problems like heart disease.

People living with HIV are more than our lab results, and our value isn’t dictated by our viral load. Achieving an undetectable viral load is important, and not just because it protects our sexual partners.

Being undetectable prevents transmission, and it’s good for my health too.

We believe that San Francisco can be the first U.S. city to end the HIV epidemic. Every day, we provide free prevention and care services to people in hard-hit neighborhoods—and advocate for them to public officials—because we can envision the day when we beat HIV.

San Francisco AIDS Foundation is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation which has been granted tax exempt status under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3). Our Federal EIN is 94-2927405 and our California corporation number is C1241510.